Diman girls' locker room to get long overdue overhaul

When Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School opened in the 1960s, it was an all-boys school.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1973 that the school enrolled its first female student. And female student enrollment has gradually increased since, with more females entering into once male-dominated trades and expanded vocational programming at the school.

When Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School opened in the 1960s, it was an all-boys school.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1973 that the school enrolled its first female student. And female student enrollment has gradually increased since, with more females entering into once male-dominated trades and expanded vocational programming at the school.

Now, the student body is about 56 percent male to 44 percent female. But the numbers don’t exactly translate to gender equity.

For example, consider the school’s sports teams: Diman has similar numbers of girls and boys teams, with roughly the same number of female and male students participating. However, the boys’ teams have significantly more locker room space. And their space has separate changing room, shower and bathroom areas.

The girls’ facility consists of narrow corridors of lockers, with only a few benches for changing, wrapped around four showers and two bathroom stalls.

The female locker room facilities are less than one-third the size of the same facilities for male athletes.

Diman Superintendent-Director Marta Montleon would like to see that changed. She led a quick tour of the locker rooms on Friday, and also showed a draft plan for the proposed locker rooms.

The current space abuts the school’s former band room, currently utilized as a math classroom. The plans would move the girls’ locker and changing room area into that former band room space. Then, the current locker room would become an expanded shower and bathroom area.

Montleon said another classroom space for math instruction could be built elsewhere in the building. The locker room project could be built out in phases.

“We could do just the locker room this year, and the shower room next year,” Montleon said.

The Diman School Committee recently approved sending the project out for bid, with a deadline of 11 a.m. on July 15 for submitting proposals. Unofficial numbers discussed at the last School Committee meeting in June pegged the project’s total cost in the neighborhood of $200,000 to $400,000.

Montleon said the actual cost of the project wouldn’t be known until those bids are finalized next week.

Then the project must be approved by the School Committee, which meets again in September.

Despite the disproportionate locker room space in the school, Montleon noted that Diman’s female athletes have thrived in the space they currently have.

“They’re not whiners,” Montleon said. “They’re not complainers. They will work with what they have ... and they give 110 percent of their effort.”

Catherine Noversa, lead physical education and health instructor and volleyball team coach, said she has heard the complaints from students and noted that the quarters are particularly cramped during the fall athletics season.

About 120 students participate in fall sports, including the cross county, soccer, volleyball and cheerleading.

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That number doesn’t include members of opposing teams who travel to Diman on game day.

Noversa said other schools in the region with smaller student bodies than Diman often have larger locker rooms.

The school is due to receive a decennial accreditation review this fall from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), which had recommended that the school bring its entire facility “in compliance with all areas of gender equity” in its review 10 years ago.

The previous report included recommended changes to shop and athletic changing facilities.

The shop changing facilities have since been removed, and students now come to school on vocational days already dressed, Montleon said.

However, the athletic locker rooms have remained unchanged.

Montleon said funding for the project depends on what the state allocates to Diman next year.

The funding is available via the current $34 billion budget bill that passed in both chambers of the Legislature but still awaits Gov. Deval Patrick’s signature.

According to an Associated Press report on Sunday, the governor has until the end of the week to sign the bill.